2 Samuel 16:9,11 - "Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over, I pray thee, and take off his head...let him alone, and let him curse; for the Lord hath bidden him."

Matthew 7:15 - “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.

Matthew 24:11 - “…and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.”

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Southern Baptists: The Caner Scandal is OURS, Not Just Ergun's

As the Caner scandal goes viral, and I predict will be on the national TV and cable news channels within a week, we Southern Baptist laypeople need to come to grips that this scandal of Ergun Caner is one that is not just about Ergun Caner and his "decade of deception" as I call it.

This is about us.

We can't just throw Caner under the bus and wash our hands of this whole mess.

This scandal is about what WE have helped to create in our own convention, yes, in our own churches over the past 30 years. The transformation of former-Jihadist "Ergun Mehmet Caner" from preacher "E. Michael Caner" after 9/11 reflects on US, and to some extent our leadership like Jerry Vines and Paige Patterson.

We lay folk have allowed ourselves to become a niche market to be tapped by marketing consultants that want to meet our "needs" and tap into our pocketbooks - our need for our own sub-culture complete with our own millionaire singers, artists, evangelists, comedians. We want entertainment. We want excitement and stories, and story-tellers. And we'll pay for it.

We have niche pastors now that are preaching to our felt needs, or they have a certain shtick that sells to their market. We don't just want a spirit-filled Homer Lindsay, Jr. who led a boring life preaching Jesus in his hometown. That's not good enough. We now want preachers who have EXCITING lives, heroes - guys who were former terrorists, or men that travel the world and lead believers on treks to the Holy Land and historical river cruises. We want best-selling authors that convert their sermon series into books, and have 501(c) ministries with TV programs on INSP and TBN. We want guys that are cool dudes, with hired personal brand-building marketing consultants, men who are jet-setters, who rub elbows with other celebrity preachers, millionaires that fly all over to speak to other pastors on how they TOO can be great - for a fee of $300 of course (paid by the lay folk, of course!).

Matt Chandler and Ed Stetzer have talked about this in the past year, as I blogged about here and here.

We have allowed our convention to become less about spreading the true message of Jesus Christ: one of repentence, forgiveness, sacrifice, humility, a life of service to others, working for justice of the oppressed, etc. - into a political machine, a profit-making enterprise, operated by celebrity speakers, that marketing consultants can help build - and sadly, a convention that requires strict adherence to an ever-narrowing band of tertiary doctrines.

So it's no wonder that after 9/11, what we wanted, we got.

We wanted a Christian who could speak with authority on terrorism and Jihad and Islam: and can you make sure that we get one that is a devout Christian - one that is conservative, a Republican, would be great. And please find one with a testimony catch-phrase like "From Jihad to Jesus", that would be wonderful, as we can buy his tapes - and best of all we can tell our friends that Jesus REALLY IS THE MESSIAH - after all, Jesus saved this former terrorist! Here, watch this DVD of his testimony that I bought for fifty bucks!

And we got just what we ordered, as our convention leaders know very well their "market". Caner was hand-picked and hand-delivered by Jerry Vines and Paige Patterson, straight to the folks at First Baptist Jacksonville and Prestonwood Baptist Church within weeks of 9/11.

His name was Ergun Mehmet Caner - born in Turkey and raised in Europe, and "trained to do that which was done on 11 September." But he was Mike Caner, from Columbus, Ohio, trained to be a regular American teenager of the 70s who became a Christian in high school.

E. Michael Caner's true testimony was good enough for Jesus. But sadly, it wasn't good enough for us. Not captivating enough.

Too bad that before they hand-picked E. Michael and vaulted him from virtual obscurity to instant SBC stardom - Vines and Patterson either failed to do their due diligence - or they looked the other way - or they allowed themselves to be duped. I'm not sure which is worse. Same story with Darrell Gilyard.

But now we are left with a mess.

We wanted "Ergun Mehmet" because "E. Michael" wasn't good enough. And we got him.

And now we have to face the music and come to grips with what this says about us and the SBC leaders that we so devoutly follow.

51 comments:

Anonymous
said...

I absolutely agree watchdog. Additionally, our churches and overpaid pastors completely ignore the important issues of today. We should be showing strong opposition to what they are proposing for the text books in Texas. Instead, politicians are doing our bidding for us. The ACLU managers to be heard regarding a Cross in the middle of a dessert, but their objections are not countered with so much as a peep from our pastors. We are paying them these big bucks, we as members of these congregations should be expecting much much more.

Necessary post - and well put. As you know, I say that this scandal also belongs to Evangelicalism as a broader movement. Those of you in the SBC are wise to acknowledge that the Convention is entangled in this controversy, but those of us outside must acknowledge that the culture of celebrity which enables a Caner is broader than the Convention.

Is it the Caner thing or what? There seems to be NO political talk about the upcoming convention. Not even a response to Frank Page. Are there so many factions that no one knows what to expect? Is the situation with Caner changing anything at the convention gathering? What blogs or other websites address this?

"Too bad that before they hand-picked E. Michael and vaulted him from virtual obscurity to instant SBC stardom - Vines and Patterson either failed to do their due diligence - or they looked the other way - or they allowed themselves to be duped. I'm not sure which is worse. Same story with Darrell Gilyard."

These possibilities suggest that Vines and Patterson had no part in the creation of Ergun's manufactured 'persona'.But, in the 'culture' that puts 'great preachers' in front of an audience that demands focus on titillation that feeds their prejudices (but, oh, it's okay because this is what Christians are supposed to do);in that 'culture', a person 'with talent' and a need for attention and acceptance and financial reward, may find a resting place to ply their wares: a welcoming reception from those who see themselves as superior to others and hold the 'others' in contempt, to laugh at jokes about the 'others', to revel in stereotypes that cause great harm to innocent people and inspire the worst sort of hypocrisy in the human heart.

At best, Vines and Patterson are the leaders of a 'culture' that promotes 'talent'. But what strange talent.And what strange results, sometimes tragic, as in the case of Gilyard.

At worst, the 'leadership' has long ago sent out a message to the sheep: if we can 'get rid of' seventy-seven missionaries and openly cause the difficulties of an honest Christian woman professor and her family,then we are VERY POWERFUL INDEED.And the sheep let it happen. Not all though, there are and were those who spoke for what is right and just, and they paid a price for daring to oppose 'the leadership'.

Well, 'powerful' is not enough against the truth. No, not the 'spin' of the culture warriors, or the hired consultants, that is a man-made spin.

The truth is simply this: it is known that a Christian leader will not harm others, or cause them to stumble. If a 'powerful' 'prominent' person has done these things, without repentance, he gives up his claim to the truth.

And we see the result unfold before us, time and again, same story, different characters, none of it Christ-honoring.

There is one last possibility so horrible no one wants to consider it. And that is the depth of responsibility of the 'leadership' in the formation of those they have mentored and placed in high positions. And it is GOOD, that we don't want to 'go there'. That is a job for the Holy Spirit, and we leave these people in the merciful Hands of the Lord's care. He alone knows their hearts. He alone can heal their spirits and mend their broken souls. Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison. May His mercy bring healing to our Christian people: all of us together.

As i have stated here before I am a pastor with over 40 yrs of service. It is heart-rending to me to see what is happening in our convention. When our convention understood that it was composed mainly of churches with membership of 500,or fewer, we did not have the jet-flying mega salaried ministers. Churches called u as pastor because they thought u had a real interest in souls. Now a man is vetted in order to decide how much money can he raise seemingly wanting a ceo and not one who is so simple-minded that he feels like a servant of God and the ppl. Watchdog, u have raised some salient points not only where caner is concerned but where our convention is headed today. It is hard to believe that one can be barred from a church because he dares to disagree with the pastor. U have paid a price but don't despair a record is being kept God's computer doesn't lie. Jackbenchaph

Bojac & other Pastors who make comments on this blog - you are the true ministers of the gospel that people like myself have a special place in our hearts for.

Whether you know it or not, you have ministered to us on this blog and even though not seeing or knowing who you are the Holy Spirit through your thoughts tells us "you" are the real deal and the kind of pastors we hunger for.

I think one of the reasons that we don't hear much outcry at all about Ergun Caner is the fact that 95% of Southern Baptists have never heard of him. You know him Watchdog because Caner hit the circuits of the 20 big SBC churches, but remember the average size Baptist Church is 91 in attendance on a Sunday morning. I am familiar with him, but have not talked to one person in our SBC church that has ever heard of him. I do disagree with your statement that it is somewhere "celebrity" of me to take members of my church to the Holy Land. My wife and I have taken that trip 7 times now with members from our church. It is an incredible time of biblical discovery, prophecy study, and fellowship. It will be so interesting to see what happens with Canar, it will be very telling. I hope Canar demonstrates to the students and the university that there is a difference between worldly sorrow (regret!) and Godly sorrow (repentance!).

You said it well, Watchdog. And it is more than just the SBC convention, like Chantry mentioned. This disease of celebrity worship has morphed much of evangelicalism. Many church "leaders" probably don't start out wanting fame or money, but get caught up in the worship of the masses. The church needs a large dose of humility. It isn't just Caner who needs to repent. Many folks in positions of responsibility let this happen. Many of us stayed silent for too long as it did.

I do not think it is fair to blame the people in the pews. The fact is that when the Lord is really working on a person's heart, they will come to church to hear the word, even if the sermon is not appealing to the flesh, there aren't any compelling stories and the music is old hymns. I know because 16 years ago I was "unchurched Sally" and the Lord brought me to church and kept me there to hear His word preached. If someone has come to be entertained and they aren't being catered to, then most likely eventually they will leave. The leadership in churches and seminaries are to blame for wanting to grow their churches so badly that apparently they will say or do anything to make that happen.

I agree with some of the comments here which basically say that most churches have not been touched by the Caner issues or the Ed Young, Jr. issues.

Last year's convention was a blessing because it focused on things that the Convention should focus on.

Some people kept trying to bring up the Shack, Mark Driscoll and other 'hot button' issues. But the vast majority of people attending wanted to talk about the GCR, evanglism, hear reports from the SBC agencies etc. and not get caught up in outrage over this person or that.

I agree with another commenter here who basically said that most of the SBC churches have not been touched by this scandal.

That certainly applies to my church. We haven't had Caner to our church, I bet a few might know who he is. We don't sell is books. We have folks in our church who work with local Muslim immigrants, but that's the extent of it.

Even fewer of our people (unless they are from Dallas/Ft. Worth) know who Ed Young, Jr. is. And they know nothing of his plane.

There is nothing personally that I can do about Caner.

There is nothing that can be done at the SBC meeting about Caner. I think that any kind of a motion about him personally would be ruled out of order, as it should be.

He's not an officer, trustee of an agency, is he? If he is, there might be something to do.

I have feelings about Caner, but I am not expecting or wanting the SBC to do anything about it.

Those in the SBC who promoted Caner, no doubt, have egg on their face. That is probably the greatest shame they can have.

I think that the EC will hire Frank Page. That is fine by me. He was a good President. His appointments were good. Most importantly, Dr. Page did not get sucked into saying a lot of negative things as SBC President.

He handled the liberal Bapist confab (New Covenant) very well. I don't know anyone in the SBC who wants to be a part of that. I am not sure it is even still around. I think it was mainly an election year gathering for Baptists who had a fairly liberal political agenda, which is fine by me. I am for all sorts of groups meeting etc.

Liberty certainly has a decision to make about Caner.

Liberty is not an SBC school.

Maybe the churches that had Caner speak have a decision to make. I don't know what the protocal is when you find out someone who spoke at your church 9 or 10 years ago (or 3 or 4, whatever it is) told tall tales. I don't know. Do they ask for their money back? Send him his books?

I will read Liberty's report with interest. Beyond that, there is not anything for me to do except have an opinion.

This does not make logical sense. Without them, there would be no celebrity Caner. He could not have such a large platform unless people in the pews allowed it.

"he fact is that when the Lord is really working on a person's heart, they will come to church to hear the word, even if the sermon is not appealing to the flesh, there aren't any compelling stories and the music is old hymns"

Not always. The "assembly" was for believers to edify one another, encourage, etc. It was never meant to be people sitting in pews facing one speaker who was peaching. If you are going for the preaching, I feel sorry for you. You have the best teacher: The Holy Spirit. And you must be a Berean no matter what human is teaching you.

If we had any discernment, Caner would never have gotten this far with his lies. We have learned to follow men not Christ. It is so sad.

Louis, Unbelievers view this as a "Christian" issue so it does affect us all.

I think it means we must all be completely honest in all things...in little things...even in the way we parse words to make people think certain things. Have you been totally honest....on this blog about 'not anticipating working with the SBC in any way'?

Anon 1:15 pm: The reference to the $300 was not the fee paid to the celebrity preacher/speaker, it is the entrance fee paid by the attendees, so that the celebrity preacher/speaker can get a hefty speaking fee, in the thousands of dollars...

Pastor Justin - I didn't mean to imply that a pastor taking church members to the Holy Land is inherently wrong.

I'm speaking in the context of the celebrity preachers who use their celebrity status to attract people to travel with them, use their church website to advertise, glad-hand at their speaking gigs to attract customers for their trips....and then collect a fee back from the travel agent according to how many heads went with them on the trip. Not to mention any names, of course. :) If the shoe fits....

Watchdog, you got it right about celebrity pastors making money off of these trips. I had a pastors wife try to talk me into one of these trips one time. For some reason she thought I could afford it. Little did she know that I was not able nor did I want to spend my money on a "trip". I am sure if she knew I wasn't "wealthy" she wouldn't be talkng to me anyway!

It's much bigger business than that. I think free passage for the host and his spouse is pretty standard whether the host is "influential" or not. Depending on the package chosen by the host, he can collect free tickets or the money for every set number of people who sign up. One for every five is common. Of course, in this case that adds 20% to the price of each paying person's ticket. More here.

In the 1950s there were roughly the same number of ministers as there were U.S. churches. Now there are almost two ministers for every church, according to the latest Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches -- 607,944 ministers and 338,713 congregations.

As a result, there is still demand for poorly paid pastors or bi-vocational pastors. But the number of churches that can pay a living wage is decreasing and will continue to decrease as average Sunday attendance drops.

I might gently suggest that among many denominations there's something of a star system in place, which would explain the temptation to some pastors to engage in relentless self-promotion complete with pointless blogs, books, podcasts, cruises, conferences, etc.

Wow nicely put. Great post WD. I agree. I certainly didn't contribute to this nonsense so I don't feel guilty. But Im glad the laypeople are being held accountable as well as Vines and Patterson for creating a charlatan preacher and scholar like Mike Caner. Just goes to show you that the SBC has become a show-off, money-making business and has completely abandoned Christian teachings and love and humility.

Good stuff Watchdog. Remember, the Truth sets us free. I personally believe his testimony, but I don't understand his inconsistencies with his brother's testimony and his, and also his lack of knowledge of Islam if he claims he is a professed "ex-Muslim." Lord Willing, L.U. will make the right choice

TP - many thanks. Guthrie's post will go down in the anals of SBC blogging as one of the most embarrassing posts of all time. Reading it again I truly felt embarrassed for the man; it's almost frightening that a guy that makes a living as a "man of God", a guy who have gone through formal seminary training, could spew such venom and utter nonsense.

WD: As to the content of your blog....Yes, it is about time some of the blame is placed on the ENABLERS. It seems that the NEW thing is to bring "something new, something flashy" into the pulpit. Just preaching the word and the gospel is not good enough or interesting enough anymore. It might bring in more wallets, er, I mean people to the church. So we get these "situations" and we get the controversies. You can't blame the people in the pews for finding and bringing in these "phenomenons" in the first place. They have to be given access to the pulpits. But, you can blame the pew people if they accept and continue to support this problem. Some times the sainted preacher considered "untouchable" by many just doesn't have the spiritual discernment that many in the pew have. I have certainly seen this over and over. But, because he is "untouchable" many cover up for him. This is called following a man. We just don't want to see any flaws in our "heros". And the "heros" know it. It's money in the bank to them. No one would dare oppose or question an "untouchable". The problem is, it is the CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST, Jesus is the head of the church, not the preachers. We shold look to JESUS and to HIM alone for guidance. The enablers have not learned this. And many of us pay for this problem in our churches. Don't ever follow a man. Men will disappoint you every time!!!!

"Why did Jesus not take his disciples to where God gave Moses the ten commandments? It could have been a wonderful time of reflection!"

Because Jesus is God and was right there next to them. As for us, we are to have God within us. As in the indwelling Holy Spirit. We do not have to go anywhere to have reflection. It should be within us.

The Lumpkins people including Tim Rogers, etc are on the record saying that Caner is innocent until proven guilty. Never mind that Caner's own words over a 9 year period prove him guilty.

My question is WHO GETS to decide if he is guilty or innocent in Lumpkin's eyes? Liberty? Geisler?

If the answer is yes, then why would we believe people who have been close to Caner, profited from Caner, Claim to be Christians who defend truth...YET should have recognized his consistent inconsistencies for 9 years about his own background?

Either they are not real sharp or they are willfully supporting his lies. Which is it?

Hello you SBC'ers. Look in the face of Caner to see your own reflection!

You allowed this. You gave your money to support preachers even worse than him. You are still giving your time and money to preachers worse than him!

You are looking at yourselves!

You will make the same excuses Liberty will make, but for other men just like Caner. And you won't recognize this!

You worship evangelism instead of God! As long as you continue, you will receive the merchandisers.

May 23, 2010 12:14 PM

And if you read the OT, you will see that the modern day preacher acts a lot like the corrupt priests of the OT that the prophets railed against and God punished Israel for.

But now, we are to have the Holy Spirit which guides us in all truth. Followers of these corrupt pastors means that they have no discernment or wisdom and do not know the truth.

It is hard to admit you followed a charlatan. But you must. And you must turn away and follow Christ as hard as that may be. It could mean you lose your social position within the false body you are a part of. It could mean worse. But do it. Follow Christ alone. Your eternal life depends upon it. God is purifying His Bride.

They take a dim view of lying about credentials. They might get probation over it.

I'd be surprised if that turns out to be the case here; he has an earned doctorate, and if I understand correctly any university publications with the wrong credentials have been corrected.

The primary accusations against Caner pertain to things he did away from his field of academic expertise, and SACS is an academic organization. I'd guess that any statements he made regarding his upbringing while speaking to e.g. Focus on the Family would be outside SACS's purview. They would be interested in academic fraud, not personal fraud. They wouldn't care, for example, if Caner had been bouncing personal checks.

Besides, they have a limited range of sanctions at their disposal, and they tend to be interested in institutional questions and academic questions.

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About Me

We're small, insignificant, and harmless. But we have a loud, piercing bark that seems to annoy those in mega churches the most. Not Kool-Aid drinkers, only fresh, filtered water, please; with Grape or Cherry flavoring from Walmart. "Let him alone; God hath bidden him to speak:"